Model Schools in the Model City (Paperback)

Amber N. Wiley

ISBN 10: 0822968320 / ISBN 13: 9780822968320

Published by University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh PA, 2026

About this Item

Paperback. Finalist for the 2026 ASALH Book Award Access to educational resources has been a tool of liberation for Black Americans from the antebellum period to the present. With this book, Amber N. Wiley emphasizes the value of education as a means for social equality--Black Americans wanted the American Dream to apply to them, and equal opportunity for quality education was at the forefront of making that dream a reality. Model Schools in the Model City chronicles how Black Washingtonians used public education as a means of racial uplift in the face of entrenched white resistance and repeated assertions of white supremacy. For Black Washingtonians, it was the school building--a permanent structure, made of sturdy material--that was the physical realization of Black liberation, agency, and the right to exist as citizens of the United States. Furthermore, it was the school building that stood as the litmus test to whether Black Washingtonians' citizenship was perpetually guaranteed; thus, they fought with all the tools at their disposal to maintain access to quality education in the nation's capital. In this book, Wiley recounts the untold story of Black Washingtonians' educational ambitions, especially as they were manifested in the schools themselves. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780822968320

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Model Schools in the Model City (Paperback)
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh PA
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0822968320
• ISBN 13: 9780822968320
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Finalist for the 2026 ASALH Book Award
Finalist for the 2026 Association of American Publishers PROSE Award in the Social Sciences

Access to educational resources has been a tool of liberation for Black Americans from the antebellum period to the present. With this book, Amber N. Wiley emphasizes the value of education as a means for social equality―Black Americans wanted the American Dream to apply to them, and equal opportunity for quality education was at the forefront of making that dream a reality. Model Schools in the Model City chronicles how Black Washingtonians used public education as a means of racial uplift in the face of entrenched white resistance and repeated assertions of white supremacy. For Black Washingtonians, it was the school building―a permanent structure, made of sturdy material―that was the physical realization of Black liberation, agency, and the right to exist as citizens of the United States. Furthermore, it was the school building that stood as the litmus test to whether Black Washingtonians’ citizenship was perpetually guaranteed; thus, they fought with all the tools at their disposal to maintain access to quality education in the nation’s capital. In this book, Wiley recounts the untold story of Black Washingtonians’ educational ambitions, especially as they were manifested in the schools themselves.

About the Author

Amber N. Wiley is the Wick Cary Director of the Institute for Quality Communities and an Associate Professor of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design in the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma.